MMO Co-Opportunities Volume XLIV: Summer Updates

Content for GW2 and Wildstar; Expansion announcement for RIFT

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Summer for MMOs is usually graced with a bounty of content updates and news about upcoming content updates and expansions. This year is no different. Guild Wars 2 and Wildstar both received content updates at the beginning of the month while RIFT recently announced an upcoming expansion. Intrigued? Then read on.

Guild Wars 2 Begins Season 2 of Living StorylineGuild Wars 2 has what ArenaNet calls a “living storyline.” Season 2 of said living storyline started July 1st with Episode 1: Gates of Maguuma. In this first episode, players are tasked with venturing into the Brisban Wildlands to meet up with the Seraph posted there. They’ll uncover the mysteries of the disappearing Zephyrites and the fallen Zephyr Sanctum. In addition to the playable story content, Episode 1 also introduces elite achievements, new crafting materials, and new gear.

Episode 2: Entanglement is set to go live on July 15th. It will continue the living storyline as player characters continue through the Maguuma Wastes. I haven’t messed around in GW2 in awhile now, but I might take a peek at some of the new content this summer, especially since they’re making Season 2 episodes replayable for players that simply log in during the two weeks each episode is live. Check out the trailer for Episode 2 below:

Wildstar Releases Strain Ultra-DropWildstar launched a bit over a month ago. A month after release (the beginning of July), Carbine deployed the “Strain Ultra-Drop” content update to the game. Storywise, this update focuses on an alien plague known as the Strain. A whole new Strain-diseased zone, Blighthaven, has been added to the game for players to fully immerse themselves in disgusting scenery. A second new level 50 zone, the Northern Wastes, was also added. This is a level 50 version of the Northern Wilds. And of course, the Strain Ultra-Drop adds new housing items, new cosmetic items (costumes, mounts, dyes, and emotes), and new loot to the game.

I myself haven’t yet experienced much of the new content, but I’m looking forward to getting to it. Check out the Strain Ultra-Drop Dev Speak video below:

RIFT Announces Nightmare Tide

A couple of weeks ago, Trion announced that their free-to-play MMO, RIFT, would be releasing a new major expansion later this year. Entitled Nightmare Tide, it will enable players to venture away from the world of Telara in the open world for the first time. Adventurers will be bringing the fight to the Plane of Water.

As expected, this expansion will add new planar dungeons, raids, raid rifts, and slivers. It will also add a new type of rift: Nightmare rifts. These are types of rifts that will scale in difficulty, ensuring a tough fight. Nightmare Tide will also increase the level cap to 65. The five new levels will give players a Mastery based on Calling (not Souls), to compliment the Soul Tree system. All of this content will be released for free, though some of it (such as new equipment slots) will have to be unlocked by time investment, or in-game resources. Purchase of a digital version of the expansion will unlock these unlockables for all characters on an account.

So there you have it: news and updates on one subscription-based MMO, one buy-and-play-forever MMO, and one free-to-play MMO. Have you been exploring new content in your current MMO? Let us know your impressions in the comments below!